The University of British Columbia
DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY, VISUAL ART AND THEORY
ARTH 333.001
C. Knicely
Winter Session 2011 Term 2
January-April 2012
ART, CHURCH, SOCIETY AND THEIR MARGINS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES
Instructor: Carol Knicely
Office Hours: Wednesday 12:30-1:30 PM; Thursday 2-3PM and by appointment
Auditorium Annex 260; Tel.: 822-6187; e-mail: knicely@mail.ubc.ca
Course Materials (PowerPoints of Lectures; Syllabus, etc.) will be set up on VISTA. If enrolled you will have
access at www.vista.ubc.ca
NOTE: Please introduce yourself and add a picture on the Vista Discussion Group when it is available
Scope: Diversification of the arts with the expansion of patronage in late medieval society
of Europe: new techniques, new genres, new forms and new artistic organizations along
with death, humour and the grotesque that haunt the edges of art.
This course will explore Medieval art in the later Middle Ages (c. 1150-1500) which is
characterized by a tremendous growth in the production of visual images and art of all kinds
due to the fact that a greater range of people were commissioning art for a wider range of
purposes. The earlier era of Romanesque (ARTH 332) was dominated by monasteries as
major patrons of art but in the later Middle Ages the Cathedral and the city come into play.
Laity, both rich aristocrats and rulers, the populace, and growing numbers of bourgeois as
well as a whole range of new religious orders along with clerics working for rulers and
university teachers were involved in both viewing and commissioning works. As Michael
Camille notes, this did not mean that religious art was sidelined, just that the motivations of
patrons varied more extensively. Courtly aristocrats were both interested in new kinds of
devotional art like Books of Hours and small devotional sculptures for private use as well as
a range of practical books, romances, ivory backed mirrors and jewelry boxes for pleasure
and love. Cathedrals filled with an encyclopedic array of sculpted imagery and stained glass
became giant beacons in the centres of cities as well as sites for controversy while around
it workshops of small artisans and book painters proliferated. Pilgrimage, relics and mass
devotion were still popular but took on new forms, including participation in religious plays
and pubic city rituals, and new objects of devotion, such as the veneration of the host along
with an increase in affective piety that encouraged empathy with the sufferings of Christ and
devotion to the Virgin Mary. The beginning of this era saw the growth of Cathedral
universities and concern of mendicants to combat heresy and instruct the laity produced
new forms of visual imagery to serve in the organization and teaching of knowledge as well
as Christian morality. The later middle ages experienced periods of great upheaval with
social revolts, plague, wars and famine that seem to have encouraged both an increased
desire for display and a macabre sense of death and humour.
Specific goals for student achievement: By the end of this course students should be
able to:
• Understand the development of architectural techniques like the ribbed vault and
flying buttresses that led to a new aesthetic look in Gothic Architecture including the
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new medium of stained glass. This developed into an international style that
permeated many forms of art in the later Middle Ages.
Students will develop their analytical skills in describing visual and spatial aspects of
works of art and learn the importance of cultural context and viewers’ response.
Appreciate different notions of time (cyclical, linear, future eschatological) that
worked together in the Middle Ages and are important for a proper understanding of
art.
Discount the over-simplified myth that the Middle Ages was the “Great Age of Faith”
where everyone piously came together in their common love of God to support the
church.
Will be able to evaluate and explain the interrelationship between medieval concepts
of knowledge (including science, natural history and geography and maps), religion
and aesthetic principles in the Gothic Age.
Through the handling of facsimiles of medieval Books of Hours, personally
experience both the aesthetic complexity and devotional value as well as display
potential of these precious illuminated books mostly made for wealthy laity.
Develop your sensitivity for understanding diverse attitudes and experiences with
respect to religion and in particular a new Later Medieval concern and empathy with
the physical and emotional sufferings of Christ and the Virgin including new art
historical concern for viewers and female spirituality.
Experience and enjoy medieval forms of humour in the visual realm sometimes in
the most surprising places.
Consider the performance of games of courtly love and the role of allegory that
permeate the visual products meant to woo lovers or brides.
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